The Graduation Caper
by Bunny Sakuno
Summary: It's senior high school graduation and Ryoma is determined to secure his future. Sakuno has talked herself into giving up. Their former senpai have sneaky plans that go wrong in a good way? All that matters is the end result, right? RyoSaku. Complete.


The Graduation Caper

A Prince of Tennis RyoSaku Comedy / Romance fanfic

By: Bunny

* * *

Brief A/N:

The most important thing to understand going into this fic is that it's set in the future! Ryoma and Sakuno are 18 – graduating from high school. Beyond that, if you have any questions or are confused about anything, just leave me a review or email me to ask.

And here we go…

* * *

Echizen Ryoma stared down at the long white envelope on his desk. Besides himself and his parents, not a single soul in the world knew the contents of said envelope, but it was his life. In it contained his future. In it, contained the secrets to his future happiness. In it, was everything to him and without it, he was nothing.

Okay, so maybe he was feeling a little overly dramatic about the important document inside. After all, even without said document he'd still be a world-famous tennis star. Ah yes, the Prince of Tennis, would always have tennis. Unfortunately for Ryoma, as he'd aged his priority on tennis being the only important thing in his life besides a side note of his cat Karupin, ponta and his family (yes, in that very order) had changed. Oh, how it had changed. Overly dramatic or not, the truth was the truth and the truth was that in that document was the very core of his future.

It was their high school graduation day. Their graduation scrolls had already been handed out during the longest assembly ever, and now they were just waiting for the final bells to let them out. Their teacher had given them their last free time to mingle and say their goodbyes. Ryoma was contemplating how to take care of the contents of his envelope.

"Sakuno-chan, did you make sure to invite Ryoma-sama to the party tonight?" he heard Osakada ask in a semi-hushed voice. (Well, let's be honest it was hushed for the loudmouth Osakada, and yes, even after six years the girl still insisted on referring to him as Ryoma-sama.)

He quickly swiped the envelope off of his desk and shoved it as deeply and as hidden away as possible into his school uniform pant's pocket. He even crumpled it up a little in his effort to make sure it was completely shoved in and hidden. Later, he would deal with this later. Not much later, as his time was quickly running out, but later…it sounded like he had a little more time. A part of him beat him self up for procrastinating on it yet again, but timing! The timing had to be just right!

By Ryuzaki Sakuno's estimation it was by pure luck (or was is dumb luck, or was it actually unlucky) that she found herself seated behind her six-year crush during their last quarter of high school. Well, okay, fine, let's just be honest it's the last day of school after all…Ryoma-kun wasn't just a crush. He was her only love that had stolen her heart at the tender age of twelve and only continued to keep it all the more so throughout the entire time she'd known him. It was lucky for her in that, well, school sure got a lot better when you had Ryoma-kun's back to look at all day freely, as opposed to well, anybody else really. It was lucky that it afforded her a lot more conversations with the prince of tennis. However, it was unlucky that it was a great distraction for her from her studies (though, Ryoma-kun was always rather kind about helping her with her grades as needed) and it was severely unlucky for what was happening _right now_. Her overly loud best friend forever Osakada Tomoka would talk about all sorts of things loudly enough for Ryoma-kun to hear every (sometimes embarrassing) word. Bless Tomoka for thinking she was being quiet, but blast her for never actually _being quiet_.

Ryoma casually turned in his chair to face the duo and with a knowing smirk flashed in Sakuno's direction asked, "What's this I hear about a party?"

Tomoka suddenly got quiet and gave Sakuno an expectant look, while Sakuno viciously fought off a blushing attack. Damn it all, she always blushed when Ryoma-kun caught her off guard like this! Six years and she still blushed when the tennis prince so much as glanced her way. Well, at least she didn't stutter around him anymore. She could thank their years of their some-sort-of-she-wasn't-quite-sure-but-thought-it-was-a-friendship for that.

"Ryoma-kun!" Sakuno found herself stupidly blurting out.

The classroom noise level seemed to pause for a moment at her outburst and then resume.

Sakuno tried desperately not to beat herself up internally before she got what she needed to say out, though that blush had made it's way onto her face, she was sure of it. Dang, she could feel the heat all the way down the back of her neck!

Ryoma-kun had nonchalantly lifted an eyebrow and given her an encouraging smile. There it was again! That smile! Ryoma-kun had taken to smiling at her a lot more freely lately, and it was unhinging her in all sorts of ways. She wasn't sure if she should be frightened or gooey, or both. In fact, she was feeling a little bit of both right now. Right! The party. She had to invite Ryoma-kun to the party tonight. Not only because it was going to be a special graduation celebration with Ryoma-kun being the primary guest of honor, but also because…because…oh, it hurt just to think of it, but it was more importantly because it would be the last opportunity she ever had to spend time with Ryoma-kun. After graduation he'd be a full time professional tennis player, which meant he'd never be in Japan. Even if he were, with no school, there would be no reason to see her. Except perhaps the occasional gathering of the Echizens and Ryuzakis for some holiday or celebration, which certainly happened, Sakuno just felt those would probably be more like her opportunity to meet Ryoma-kun's future wife and kids. No, forget that, she wouldn't go to those she couldn't bear it. This was it, tonight was the last night and then she wouldn't see the prince again, unless it was on the TV.

"Ano, Ryoma-kun we're going to host a graduation party for our group tonight at Kawamura sushi. Everybody wants you to come, of course. It was my job to tell you about it, I'm sorry it's late notice, I hope you can make it," Sakuno managed to get out.

Ryoma felt somewhat of a relief at Sakuno's invitation. A graduation party with the whole gang at Kawamura sushi sounded perfect. It also gave him more time to sort out that document burning a hole through his pocket. He didn't have much time and he really didn't want to take care of it at school. A casual party should afford him the opportunity he needed, or at least give him a way to create one.

"Hn, I'll come," he answered simply.

Sakuno smiled at him sweetly. Great. This was great. It was a bittersweet great, but it was great. She'd much rather have her last memory of Ryoma-kun be at her favorite little sushi shop than watching Ryoma-kun's fangirls fight over his second button. She was certainly NOT looking forward to that. Also, curse whatever girl managed to beat it off of him.

"Is something wrong?" Ryoma asked.

"Yeah, Sakuno-chan, why are you scowling?" Tomoka chimed in.

Realizing her thoughts had gotten away from her, Sakuno quickly shook her hands back and forth over her face, "It's nothing, it's nothing, I was just thinking about how this is our last day for us to all be together!"

"I know! It's so sad, isn't it sad Ryoma-sama?" Tomoka added.

Ryoma gave Sakuno an accessing look before briefly glancing at Tomoka to answer her. Sakuno didn't even catch what was said as the two spoke a few words while Sakuno tried to rework her brain out of her depressing thoughts. The final school bells chiming over the speakers interrupted her again followed by the scraping sounds of everyone getting up from their chairs. Hugs, tears, a few joyful cries were starting before her classmates even left their classroom.

Tomoka had quickly stood up and was across the room gathering the last of her things from her desk while Ryoma and Sakuno stared at each other for a minute. In a fluid motion Ryoma stood from his chair and grabbed his bags. Sakuno was almost startled by the action except that was pretty much what everybody was doing.

Ryoma gave her a smirk before he quickly ripped off his second button and dropped it on Sakuno's desk, "Take care of this for me."

Sakuno grabbed the button and jumped out of her chair, "Ry-"

"See you later Sakuno," he added as he made a mad-dash for the school exit.

Tomoka was on her in an instant.

"Sakuno-chan! Did I just see Ryoma-sama give you his second button?" she squealed in excitement to her stunned friend.

Sakuno turned her attention from the doorway she'd just watched Ryoma-kun fly through to her friend and found herself plopping back into her chair as her legs turned into jelly.

"Awesome! He did, he totally did! What did he say?" Tomoka was now bouncing up and down in front of Sakuno in anticipation of Sakuno's answer.

Sakuno was barely able to repeat it herself. That wasn't all just a dream right now? "He called me Sakuno and he told me to take care of his button."

Saying the ensuing screaming from Tomoka was merely screaming would be a gross understatement. Sakuno on the other hand, was still in quite the shocked silence. It was a miracle she was able to tell Tomoka what was said as quietly as it had been conveyed, good thing Tomoka had acquired skills in being able to hear Sakuno's quiet voice over the years.

* * *

Momoshiro Takeshi had a funny feeling. You know that feeling you get when something is going to happen. It's usually attributed to the feeling that something really bad is going to happen, or something is about to go terribly wrong, but you just don't know what. It was that kind of a feeling. Frankly he'd been having the feeling for the past week or so, but today it was really bad and he was having a mighty hard time ignoring it. Something was going to happen. It was probably going to be something bad. It probably had something to do with Fuji's latest plot.

But oh, what a plot it was.

See, the gang had gathered once again to celebrate the graduation of their youngest member. Well, youngest members if you included Sakuno-chan, Osakada, Horio, Kachiro and Katsuo. Mostly the gang was assembling for O'chibi. Though Echizen was anything but small these days. All grown up and a professional tennis player since he was 13, that's who Echizen was, but Eiji still affectionately called him O'chibi. They would otherwise be there for Sakuno-chan, well, at least most of them would be as the young girl had pretty much wormed her way into the hearts of most of the Seigaku dream team members. Especially Kawamura since Sakuno-chan had been working as a hostess/waitress for Kawamura sushi since she'd turned sixteen a little over two years ago. Momoshiro would be willing to bet if it weren't for Echizen, Kawamura would have tried to marry her into the family he was so taken with her. He had to admit the girl was one heck of a sushi hostess. It was like the girl was made for the job, but maybe it was just her sweet mannered eager to please nature. She'd probably excel at anything that brought out those strengths of hers.

Oh but the whole gang were all fairly convinced that Sakuno-chan was still completely hung up on Echizen. The girl had been painstakingly making the boy bentos for the last six years. She'd never missed a game or tournament, and had even traveled a few times with Echizen's family to see and support his world-level playing for the US Open, Wimbledon, and Australian Open.

They'd all been suspicious of Echizen returning the cute brunette's feelings from the beginning. He didn't really talk to other girls, he barely tolerated the presence of other girls and he certainly didn't go do things with other girls. Momoshiro had even caught him saving Sakuno-chan from a few scrapes here and there, which he personally believed to be a sure sign of affection from the tennis prince who didn't seem to care much about anything beyond tennis and ponta. Yet, here they were at their high school graduation day, about to go off into the world, and nothing. So they (all their previous senpai, that is) had taken it upon themselves to give Echizen the little push he seemed to need to make sure Sakuno-chan stayed in his life. Little push being the primary objective, though Momoshiro was beginning to feel otherwise.

It was this weird feeling he had. That and the mischievous smirk on Fuji's face, oh, and well, the tall bottle of clear liquid that Inui was smiling maniacally at.

"Are you guys sure about this?" Kawamura asked.

"Don't worry, it's fine, it's fine!" Eiji answered enthusiastically.

Kaidoh hissed. Tezuka gave a disinterested glance at the bottle. Oishi shook his head in disapproval.

Momoshiro had been pretty gung-ho for the idea, but he was starting to think the same thing as Kawamura – were they really sure about this?

* * *

Sakuno and Tomoka had taken their time leaving the school grounds. Sakuno had even taken out her cell phone and snapped off some pictures of the classrooms, the hallways, and the grounds. She'd also taken pictures with the friends they bumped into upon exit. The girls were regaled with tales of Echizen Ryoma's escape from his rabid fangirls. After many a story, they determined that he'd made a mad-dash off the school property – a gaggle of girls had chased him down, a few had ambushed him at the gates, but the outcome was that no-one had managed to get their hands on his elusive second button. By more than one report it was already missing. Sakuno had nodded and giggled while she rubbed the button in her skirt pocket; just to make sure she was the one that really had it.

Had Ryoma-kun _REALLY_ given her his second button and asked her to take care of it for him? Did that mean he knew what it meant? Sakuno was a little suspicious of that since Ryoma-kun rarely paid any attention to the romantic whims of school girls such as sharing an umbrella, valentines day, white day, the second button of a school uniform and so on. So what had his thinking been on this? Was he trying to tell her he liked her? Sakuno shook her head, there's no way, right? Ryoma-kun wasn't shy, he was just fairly self-absorbed, and for good reason, he had a lot of pressure on him regarding tennis. Still, Sakuno was convinced if Ryoma-kun liked a girl he would be upfront about it, you know – the kind of guy that would tell a girl right away that he planned on marrying her before they even dated kind of guy. So, what was it? Did he literally mean he wanted her to take care of the button so none of his fangirls could rip it off and take it away? Does that mean he was expecting her to return it to him later? Sakuno wasn't sure she could part with it even if that was the case. She could say she conveniently lost it, but would Ryoma-kun even ask? He wasn't really the type to bring something like that up. He'd done a lot of strange things like this over the years she'd known him – on more than one occasion it had seemed like he was maybe trying to let her know he liked her, and then nothing. Sakuno had always chalked it up to her own girlish whimsical fantasies and reminded herself that Ryoma-kun wasn't shy and would be a direct-approach guy. Still…Sakuno's mind swam with possibilities. Just what was Ryoma-kun thinking?

As Tomoka and Sakuno walked home from school for the last time, Tomoka gave Sakuno a pep talk. A completely unnecessary pep talk as far as Sakuno was concerned, as she had already resigned herself that nothing romantic would come of her relationship with Echizen Ryoma. She'd been by his side for six years, and he'd had plenty of opportunities to ask her out. Okay, so technically they'd been on a several 'dates' over the years, specifically whenever her Grandmother had somehow coerced Ryoma-kun to take her somewhere like the stringer's shop or some other place she needed to go to that she shouldn't be going to by herself. They'd also spent a lot of time together on special occasions when their families had gathered for parties, and they'd even spent time together on the scads of group outings with all their friends, so Ryoma-kun had plenty of opportunities to make a romantic move, and he hadn't. Sakuno felt she had encouraged his attention as much as possible without throwing herself at him the way the fangirls did. As far as she could tell, he didn't mind her presence; maybe even liked her as a friend, but that was the extent of it. Tomoka was convinced otherwise, but Sakuno was past getting her hopes up. It was high school graduation day – if Ryoma-kun hadn't indicated anything until now, there was nothing!

Well, except for the button burning a hole in her pocket…

And that he'd called her Sakuno, not Ryuzaki.

UGH! Who was she kidding! It would be stupid to let that get her hopes up! Resigned to nothing, she reminded herself. Nothing. Nothing. She chanted it to herself the whole way home, through getting prepared for the party, and through her trek to the sushi shop.

* * *

Entering Kawamura sushi, Sakuno was greeted by all her former senpai most of which by hugs and well wishes, even from the more sadistic (Fuji, Inui) and the more stoic (Kaidoh, Tezuka) ones of the bunch. Takashi-kun was practically in tears as he'd given her a tight bear hug, with a round of "BURNING" before he'd retreated back behind the sushi bar to finish the party preparations. Sakuno had followed him, as her natural inclination of being in the shop was to do her job and serve the guests, even when she wasn't on the clock.

"Ah, Sakuno-chan, you're one of our honored guests tonight, no working for you," he'd said with a gentle smile as he'd shooed her away.

"But –" Sakuno had started to protest but was cut off by the commotion at the shop entrance.

"O'chibi!"

"Echizen."

Ryoma had arrived to the delight of all their former senpai and was now making his own rounds of congratulations, and pats on the back.

Sakuno somehow found herself seated at one of the tables with Ryoma sitting across from her, Fuji to her left at the table's end, and Tomoka who had somehow arrived in all the commotion to her right. Next to Ryoma was Momoshiro and at the other end of the table across from Fuji was Eiji.

Ryoma looked at Sakuno sitting directly across from him and rubbed the envelope in his right pocket. He was so nervous he was almost jittery. This was so unlike him to be nervous, though this was worse than his first match at Wimbledon that was for sure. He might rub a literal hole in his pocket before the night was over it was bothering him so much. Although, besides the pocket rubbing as a constant reminder of the envelope in his pocket, and a creased brow, no one would know he was nervous. He'd always been able to hide his nerves rather well, though this was certainly a special exception.

Because he wasn't nervous about a tennis match, those he could handle.

This was…oh, so much more.

Momoshiro had just placed an extra large mug of beer in front of him.

"Relax, Echizen, we have all night," the slightly older man advised, giving Ryoma a reassuring pat on the back.

Ryoma gave Momoshiro his version of a frightened glance, which looked a lot more like a menacing growl as he swiped at the beer and gave it a good chug. He'd never been more grateful to be 18 already. He definitely needed a little bit of alcohol to not only relax, but hopefully to give him just enough courage to do what needed to be done. Tonight. It _had_ to be tonight. He looked across the table again at Sakuno and after popping a salmon sashimi in his mouth he grabbed for his beer and downed as much as he could in one gulp.

Crap.

"O'chibi is trying to get drunk!" Eiji exclaimed delightedly to the group at large.

The girls went into a fit of giggles while the men guffawed. Ryoma grimaced and held himself back from taking yet another chug, suddenly in defiance of Eiji's observation.

Okay, so maybe he was trying to get a little bit drunk, but he needed to keep his head. He inwardly shook his head. NO! Not drunk at all! Just…just…a little bit of help…

"Ne, Eiji – I'm not chibi anymore," he shot in Eiji's direction as Kawamura brought tall glasses of water to the table and placed them down for the six of them.

"Just have a good time Echizen, you only graduate from high school once, BURNING!" Kawamura put in as he made his way to the other table to serve them waters as well.

Taking his advice to heart and instantly deciding he didn't care what the others thought he just needed to do this - Ryoma grabbed for the beer again, just a little bit more and he'd start feeling good. He rubbed the envelope through his pocket as he took another large gulp and watched in horror over the rim of the mug as Sakuno grabbed one of Fuji's wasabi sushi and popped it into her mouth. Chew.

Oh no.

Sakuno started gasping almost immediately as Ryoma slammed his beer mug on the table and grabbing his water jumped over the table and tipping Sakuno over in his arms, forced her to drink it down.

He vaguely registered the quick movements and horrified sounds of everybody around them as Sakuno obediently held onto him and drank his water with wide teary eyes focused on him. When most of the glass was drunk, he lifted it away from her and set it behind him on their table, only to have Sakuno grab at him and tip herself over the other way, coughing uncontrollably. Ryoma glared daggers at Fuji over Sakuno's back as he rubbed her back consolingly with one hand and loosely held her at her waist against himself with the other. This was all Fuji's fault. Why did they have to sit next to him and his stupid wasabi sushi?

That was when what everybody was saying finally started to sink in.

"…. …. …. everclear!"

"Echizen! … …. …"

"… … … …. not water!"

"Echizen! You just got Sakuno-chan SUPER drunk!"

Momoshiro. His voice rang loud and clear as his words bounced around in Ryoma's brain and registered their meaning.

Wait. What?

Sakuno stopped coughing and grabbing onto the sleeves covering Ryoma's upper arms pulled herself upright. Ryoma steadied her as she gave him a dazed look and hiccupped. Her face was flushed red and it appeared she was having a hard time focusing on him, even though they were so close.

"Ry-Ry-Ryoma-kun~~~"

Oh no…

"…What was that stuffffff?"

Ryoma protectively wrapped his arms around Sakuno and glared at all their friends surrounding them.

"What. Did. You. Do." he demanded to the room at large.

Explanations flew at him from all directions. Sakuno started giggling against his chest and Ryoma imagined throwing punches at all the males present to vent his utter frustration. If he weren't holding Sakuno up, they would all be so dead. What. The. Hell.

Somehow, he gathered what happened. They'd switched out his water with everclear, just his. They were just having fun, they didn't mean for Sakuno to have it, and well, he knew the rest of how Sakuno ended up drinking it and now...

Sakuno was drunk. She'd sung his name to him for crying out loud, the girl was toast. Now she was laughing uncontrollably into his chest. To top it all off his prior beer drinking was starting to have its effect on him.

Now what, genius?

Ryoma shook his head as if to clear it of the fuzziness setting in.

"Ba~kas," he drawled out. "Now what am I going to do?" he asked nobody in particular.

"Ryoma-kun, I don't feeeeel good," Sakuno whined into his shoulder as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Great.

He gave Kawamura a hopeful look, "Do you have a place we can lay her down?"

Kawamura was shaking his head already, "Sorry Echizen, we're remodeling right now, so…"

Fabulous.

How was he supposed to talk to her tonight when she was drunk? How was he supposed to talk to her if she felt sick now too? There was no way to recover from this, was there? He probably ought to just take her home and then call her tomorrow. No, that won't work. Ryuzaki-sensei would skin him alive if he brought Sakuno home drunk. In fact, she'd probably forbid Sakuno from going anywhere with him for the rest of their lives.

That was completely unacceptable.

So if she couldn't stay here at the sushi shop and she couldn't go home…he looked towards Osakada.

The girl held her hands up defensively, "There's a reason she never stays over at my place, we don't really have enough room for me and my brothers."

Okay, there was no way he would even consider Sakuno going to anybody else's place that was present, so…

He supposed he could take her back to his place…

There wasn't anybody there since his parents were visiting New York right now and Nanako had graduated from university and had her own place for a couple of years now. So Sakuno wouldn't get in trouble, and he wouldn't get teased by his stupid Pop for bringing home a drunk Sakuno…though that would leave just him and Sakuno alone in his house all night…after drinking.

What was Sakuno going to think in the morning? He stifled letting out a wicked snicker. Who cares? Besides, he had the document. Heh…

Oh…the beer was definitely kicking in. At least he hadn't had too much of it.

"Sakuno, I'll take you to my house so you can sleep this off," he tipped his head down and spoke lowly into the ear that wasn't placed against his shoulder.

Sakuno suddenly started giggling again though it had a decidedly more mischievous tone, "O~kay! Ryoma-kun~~" she sang with more giggles. The girl was pretty much hanging off of him now.

At least she wasn't an angry drunk.

Now there was just the trek back to his place that suddenly seemed oh, so far away. Ryoma closed his eyes for a moment. You can do this.

"See ya," he said to the crowd as he steered Sakuno towards the exit.

"Wait! Ryoma-sama! Where are you going?" Osakada asked.

"To Ryoma-kun's house!" Sakuno answered before snickering at her long time friend. "Fufufufufufufufufufufu."

Ryoma gave Sakuno a startled look. Was she really feeling sick? She sure seemed to be having a good enough time giggling and snickering about. As if to answer his question, Sakuno moaned and disengaged herself from Ryoma as she moved towards the exit on her own.

Ryoma looked back and forth from the stumbling Sakuno to Osakada and their friends at large that some were now giving wolf-whistles and knowing smirks. A part of him felt like bragging about taking home a cute drunk female, but Sakuno had almost ripped the sliding door off the frame with the forceful yank she'd given it before stumbling outside. Screw them, he decided as he rushed after Sakuno.

He found her sitting on the ground in the planter just outside the door, holding her hands over her stomach and moaning. She was still flushed red, and somehow smirking maniacally between moans. The poor plants were smooshed underneath her. Her ass was probably covered in dirt by now. Great. Ryoma glanced around and was grateful that at least she hadn't thrown up anywhere. He needed to get her home before this got worse, she'd just drunk the stuff after all, and she was already this bad? And he'd been drinking himself. Yeah, time to get the hell out of there.

"Let's go," he commanded as he reached a hand down to hoist her up.

"Nonono, Ryoma-kun~~ just leave me here with Takashi," Sakuno protested.

Twitch.

With Takashi? TAKASHI? What the hell happened to calling him Kawamura-kun? And why the hell did she want to stay with him? Just what kind of a relationship did she have with his former senpai? Ryoma glared through the outer walls of the shop. It was probably good the occupants inside couldn't see him, Kawamura might have dropped dead.

"Kawamura said they're remodeling," Ryoma answered her, his irritation with her not really hidden from his tone at all. He gestured with his still outstretched hand in an upward motion, indicating he was still waiting for Sakuno to take his hand and get up.

"Oh yeah, we are, aren't we?" Sakuno's words floated around his head as she placed her hand into Ryoma's.

He was forgetting something.

That's right, Sakuno worked here at the sushi shop, didn't she? He pulled her back up on her feet and she staggered into his chest.

"Do you like working with Kawamura?" he found himself asking as they collectively worked on balancing Sakuno on her feet.

Sakuno somehow gained her wits a bit and gave him a serene smile, "Yeah, I like it here."

Hmmm.

She wobbled again and he instinctively steadied her.

"Let's go," he repeated as he turned towards the direction of his house. When she didn't follow immediately, he looked back at her wondering what it was this time. She'd said okay to his plan in the sushi shop hadn't she? What was the problem?

Sakuno was worrying her fingers together and moving her head from side to side while observing the ground. She was obviously trying to think through something, but having a hard time of it. From all that everclear he'd made her drink.

Ugh, this was his fault wasn't it? He walked back the few steps now separating them and simply grabbed her right hand with his left and started walking. Sakuno would follow. Well, she was still stumbling quite a bit actually, but she did follow without further protest.

Honestly. How troublesome. This was for her own good. He was just taking responsibility and taking care of her. She didn't need to make such a big drunk deal about it. Freaking buzz kill. He paused to put a supporting arm around her small waist before she toppled over.

"I won't do anything," he mumbled out. He didn't know why he felt the need to say it, he just did.

Sakuno stopped walking again, forcing them both to stop and made a crazy laugh, was her drunkenness getting worse? Was it just now really starting to kick in completely? "Ryoma-kun no baka!"

She put both arms around his neck again like she had in the sushi shop and pressing her whole body against his left side she rubbed his arm between her breasts. Ryoma blushed as he watched and felt them bob up and down along his side. What was she doing? Did she even know what she was doing? Ryoma looked at her face that was upturned towards him and seriously doubted it. If Sakuno had been super drunk in the sushi shop, she was officially smashed now. Hell, it was a good thing she probably wouldn't remember this.

"I like Ryoma-kun," Sakuno almost whispered it.

Whaaaat?

Breathe.

Okay, so he kind-of thought, okay, no he definitely had suspected that she liked him. He would have possibly killed any other male that had tried to get close to her, sans their group of friends of course, and if anyone had hinted that she hadn't liked him he would have been severely putout. She was practically his girlfriend since they'd been in middle school, not that he'd ever bothered to mention it to her, but he'd tried to tell her in his own way that he viewed her as his girl. He sort-of thought she got it. Though, he'd definitely been regretting lately not making it perfectly clear to her previously. Still, he _definitely_ wasn't expecting his shy little not-exactly-official-girlfriend girlfriend to just come out and say something like that to him, trashed drunk or not. He put his hand into his right pocket and rubbed the edge of the envelope, maybe…

She was giggling again, the look on his face must have been pretty good. No, not now, the girl was drunk off her ass.

He fumbled for something to say. Anything.

"I-" he was honestly at a loss for words. What did you say to something like that from a drunk almost girlfriend of six years?

"Ryoma-kun should be worried! I might have my wicked way with youuuuuu~~" Sakuno continued in a sing-song taunt. She rubbed his arm between her breasts again.

. . . .

Was she freaking kidding?

"Sakuno," he choked out.

"Ryoma-kun calls me Sakuno today," she noted with a smirk as she stopped her incessant rubbing on his arm and stepped back. She took his left hand in hers and started walking again towards Ryoma's house. Why did he feel like he was going through one role reversal after another? Wasn't he taking care of her? He shook his head and wrapped his left arm around her waist pulling her back up against his side and trudged forward.

She was right though. He had started calling her Sakuno instead of Ryuzaki. He hadn't noticed, since he'd been referring to her as Sakuno in his head for a very long time. Maybe it was that document in his pocket that had unconsciously had him change the way he addressed her. Maybe it was because the way he thought of her had changed drastically over the past year as he'd started planning out what his adult life was really going to be like. Maybe it was because he'd been desperately trying to find the right time and place to talk to her about it and he was hoping calling her Sakuno would shock her into seeking him out for a conversation.

He didn't know.

All he knew was that it was confirmed that Sakuno liked him, she was drunk, he was slightly buzzed, and they were going to his house to be alone together all night. Oh, and Sakuno had threatened to have her wicked way with him while rubbing her tits against his arm. He didn't know if he should be perversely happy or terrified. She was super drunk, so there was a high probability things could go fabulous tonight and really horrific tomorrow. While in the same vein, he could have a long night ahead of him if he was going to put up a fight against any more tit rubbing moves and whatever else the girl seemed to have in her he didn't even know she had an arsenal, arsenal.

At least it had been a while since she'd moaned about feeling sick to him. Maybe the liquor had done it's damage on her stomach already since she'd taken it in so quickly, and it was now simply fogging her brains out and lowering her inhibitions like crazy. Well, at least she wasn't slurring, though she was giggling and sing talking quite a bit, and tripping. He really couldn't leave off the tripping even though she did it plenty without the alcohol, she was taking on new heights of tripping over nothing ever since she'd downed the glass of everclear he'd forced down her throat.

Finally reaching the outer gates of his property, the couple stopped.

Sakuno started snickering again, "Ne, Ryoma-kun~~ it sure is a good thing you don't live up the hill where the temple is. Hehehehehehehehehe."

Ryoma scoffed. You bet your drunken ass it was a good thing. His house would have been practically impossible if they'd had to trek up the small stone temple steps to get to it. Thankfully someone in his family had the common sense to build a house on the lower street-access side of the property. So yeah, sure he still walked up the steps to the temple on most days to make use of the tennis court there – who wouldn't? Still he'd always been rather grateful that the house was easy enough to get to. It was interesting that Sakuno had taken note of it as well; honestly, she'd only been to his house a few times, since he'd usually pick her up at her place if they were going somewhere.

He swallowed audibly; though Sakuno probably didn't hear it since she was busy spacing out on the Echizen sign while Ryoma opened the gate, "Do you…like it here?"

"Hmmm? Where? Ryoma-kun's house? Tokyo? Japan? Earth?" Sakuno giggled as she barraged him with questions.

"My…house," he clarified lowly.

"Mmm, I've always liked Ryoma-kun's house," she answered. She had that dreamy look on her face again. She was floating away in her mind somewhere.

Ryoma took her hand and pulling her over the property line, he kicked the gate closed behind them. Now that they were here, his heart was starting to pound out of his chest. Why the hell was he so nervous all the sudden? They got to the door and Ryoma fished his keys out of his pocket and turned them in the lock, opening the door for them. As it swung into the dark house, Sakuno flicked the hall light on with one hand while she kicked her shoes off with the other, announced her presence to the building at large and then ran ahead of him.

"Sakuno, wait, you're going to hurt yourself!" Ryoma called out as he quickly discarded his own shoes and followed after her, quickly flicking on the other lights on his way.

She was in the kitchen with the refrigerator open when he found her.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Keeping her right arm on the refrigerator door's handle she swung around the door to look at him and gave him a goofy grin, "I'm hungry, aren't you? We didn't finish eating at Takashiiii'sssss."

Did she have a tendency to drop the –kun with everybody besides him while drunk, or was it just a Kawamura special? Sure, his name was the only one she'd been singing so far tonight, but he couldn't help but feel put out at the way she casually talked about Kawamura. He stamped down the jealousy trying to burn up inside of him and reminded himself she'd come home with him.

"I don't think you should be cooking," he replied as he made his way over to her and joined her.

"Hehehehe, ne, Ryoma-kun, I've never drunk this much beforrrreee, how about onigiriiii hehehehehe?" she asked as she took out a container of cooked rice, a package of nori sheets, and a carton of umeboshi out of the refrigerator.

"Sure," Ryoma replied as he took each item from her and set them on the counter. As Sakuno turned to the food ingredients and started opening everything up Ryoma closed the refrigerator door behind her and taking a couple of plates out of the cabinet he put them on the countertop. He was just hoping she didn't turn his Mother's kitchen into a disaster zone for him to clean up tomorrow.

Thankfully, Sakuno was able to form the rice balls without much incident. They were definitely not up to her usual standards by shape, and she did leave some rice bits for him to clean up tomorrow, but considering how lit she was he was actually kind-of proud of her for making them something to eat.

As they sat at the kitchen table and munched down their snack, Ryoma asked, "So are you feeling better now?"

Thankfully it hadn't put her into another giggle fit, as she pretty much hadn't stopped laughing or snickering or giggling about whatever was going on inside her head ever since she'd drank the everclear, "I feeeeeel…a little betterrrrr, can I take a bath?"

Ryoma dropped the last of his rice ball from his fingers and looked up at Sakuno who had suddenly stood up from the table. Was she serious?

"I don't know-" Ryoma stopped his caution abruptly as Sakuno turned and started her way out of the kitchen and through the house again. A few seconds passed before he heard her thumping up the stairs.

Did the girl somehow have a map he didn't know about of his place? Or had she actually been there more than he remembered? He quickly stood up from his chair, flipping the poor thing over as it flew out behind him as he took flight chasing after her. He raced up the stairs, already starting on his explanation with renewed vigor. "Sakuno, wait! You shouldn't take a bath right now, well at least not alone, you could pass out and die and there's nobody here—" Ryoma stopped in his tracks as he reached the left open changing area door.

Sakuno was just past the threshold and had somehow already managed to get her pink sundress she'd worn to the party off and she stood there with it in her hand, wearing nothing but a lacy white bra and panties set.

"Ryoma-kun~~ where should I put my dr-essssss?" she whined. As if it was nothing unusual for him to see her in nothing but her underwear.

Blushing, he held his hand out for her to give it to him, which she obliged, "I'll take it," he gulped in the air around him as he shamelessly roved his eyes over her body. She wasn't even blushing. Did she seriously not realize?

"Can you start the bath? Pleaseeee?" she asked.

Ryoma wordlessly nodded before heading into the bathroom. Tossing her dress over his shoulder, he turned the knobs and tested the water to fill the bathtub up for her. By the time he turned around she was covered in a towel, and had pulled her long loose locks up into a messy bun on her head. Ryoma couldn't help but notice her folded up lacy undergarments sitting in the basket of the changing area on his exit and pushed away the strong desire to touch the soft fabric and rub it between his fingers.

"I'm going to hang your dress up, don't drown while I'm gone," he instructed.

At this Sakuno dissolved into giggles again as he heard the distinctive splash of her entering the water, "Come back to turn this off, okay~~ Ryoma-kun~~, hehehehehehe," she sang to his retreating back.

Ryoma cursed under his breath. How was he supposed to stand for this? Quickly going into his bedroom, he hung Sakuno's dress up in his closest before angrily making his way back to the bathroom.

"Sakuno!" he bellowed out as he re-entered the bathroom.

Upon his entrance, Sakuno had burst into another fit of giggles, "Ryoma~~" she sang back, deciding now to drop the –kun as she playfully splashed at the water around her. Ryoma blinked. Was that?

Wow, that sure was.

He'd thought she would leave her towel on in the bath, but nope – there it was lying on the floor just outside of the tub. Ryoma couldn't believe it. He grit his teeth as he imagined himself stripping down and joining her. _Freaking tease_. What was she thinking stripping down like that in front of him? Did she think he wasn't a man or something? Did she really not get it at all? He hastily spun the knobs of the tub to turn the water off and retreated to the changing area. Screw it. He was getting in the bath too, if that wasn't an invitation, then hell.

Removing his shirt and pants Ryoma paused for a moment and peaked around the changing area door back into the bathroom. Sakuno had her arms propped up on the side of the tub with her head laying on them. She gave a content sigh. Oh man…

He wrapped a small bathing towel around his hips and removed his boxers, placing them in the other empty basket with his other clothes.

Flicking the bathroom's light off, he made his way into the den of temptation.

At the darkness, Sakuno had sat up, and immediately called out to him, "Ryoma-kun? The lights?"

If her behavior hadn't been so absurd Ryoma would have believed she was sober when she wasn't singing his name out and giggling. "I'm right here, just relax," he instructed as he dropped himself into the warm water next to the object of his affection. He could barely make out her profile from the moonlight drifting in through the windows towards the bathroom's ceiling. Shadows from the trees outside shifted across the bathroom floor from whatever breeze there was outside in the crisp spring air.

Ryoma leaned back against the tub's wall and let his eyes drift closed for a moment. This was pretty nice, and now that Sakuno was relaxing instead of teasing him, he felt more at ease, and didn't feel the need to just jump her and get it over with. He was calming down. Good. Calm, calm, he just needed to make sure she didn't drown; he wasn't going to take advantage of this. Really…

A slight splash next to him had him cracking an eye open just before Sakuno made contact.

"Hehehehehehehehehe, Ryoma-kun is NAKKKKKED in the bath with meeee~~" she sang to him as he felt her soft wet body come into full contact by jumping into his lap.

Ryoma fought his natural reflex of pulling his legs together to protect his man-parts knowing such an action would only hurt Sakuno and cause a mess of tangled bathing NAKED limbs and other parts. He surely had to be burning red by now, and he was eternally grateful the lights were out, as the images he'd probably be seeing right now would have probably induced something extremely embarrassing like a nose bleed. Or even worse, he might be passing out, which would be a really bad thing considering he was in here in the first place to make sure Sakuno didn't do just that. If he'd wanted a peek he could have just sat in here with the lights on, Sakuno sure didn't seem to care. How had he thought this was going to be better? Sakuno moved closer, wrapping her arms around his neck again. Oh, What. The. HELL. If he hadn't kept his towel tied around his hips…Ryoma's eyes swirled with naughty thoughts as he brought his arms around Sakuno to hold her in place as she'd now decided bouncing and flailing around in his lap was a good idea.

Nope, definitely not a good idea, because HELLO and was that softness in his hand what he thought it was? He squeezed. Sakuno moaned.

Oh man, this was quickly getting to the point of no return.

Sakuno had placed her lips against his jaw and was making small licks at drops of water collected there. Ryoma shivered. Who would guess she was such a…a…oh…oh, that was nice. Suppressing his own moan he gave up and turning his head slightly made contact with Sakuno's roaming lips.

They both suddenly became consumed by liquid fire, as Ryoma grasped the sides of her face, deepening the kiss and Sakuno's hands had instantly started roaming the planes of his chest and stomach. Before Ryoma realized what was happening, he felt Sakuno's hand undo the lose tie at his hip and release his towel into the water. It was enough to get his attention back to the actual situation.

"Sakuno! What are you doing?" he begged through pants of breath after parting their lips. He was so confused.

"I like Ryoma…" she whimpered to him before gently pressing small kisses against his lips and lower jaw.

Ryoma cursed up a storm of English expletives in his head, positive he was even making new ones up.

Control, control, he needed to get this back under control, she was drunk! It was bad enough they'd done as much as they had. He was in the bathtub with her naked, making out! This needed to stop now, or there was NO going back, there were NO take backs. She needed to make this decision in her right mind, and after, well, after…oh no, how was he going to do this without Sakuno getting the wrong impression?

"Let's-" kiss "get-" kiss "out-" kiss "now," he got out through Sakuno's kissing assault as he gently lifted Sakuno off of his lap and held back a groan of frustration over the sudden lack of contact. Her shaved smooth legs had felt like a slice of heaven rubbing over him and he instantly missed the sensation.

Sakuno, apparently having still lost all inhibitions groaned and immediately pouted, "Ryoma~~."

Before she could glomp onto him again, he quickly stood from the water and exited grabbing Sakuno's dry towel off the floor, he wrapped it around his hips.

Undeterred, Sakuno began snickering again as she shot out of the water after him and followed him all the way to the changing area. Ryoma practically flung a big fluffy towel around her in his haste to cover her up before they got into the lit up hallway. He couldn't do this.

Grabbing their clothes from the baskets, he grabbed one of Sakuno's hands and dragged her down the hallway to his bedroom and pushed her to sit down on his bed.

Tossing their collective clothing on the floor he turned towards the doorway to flick the light switch on when Sakuno grabbed his hand and pulled, causing him to topple over her on the bed. She was giving him the wickedest laugh he'd ever heard and Ryoma couldn't seem to place his hands anywhere without touching wet naked parts of Sakuno, who was eagerly returning the favor. She sure was going out of her way to make this as difficult as possible, wasn't she?

She'd wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer and started kissing him again, this time sucking his lower lip and tracing circles on it with the tip of her tongue. Ryoma groaned and placing both hands on either side of her head pushed himself up, only to be pulled back down by Sakuno. She stopped kissing him for a minute and panted against his lips.

"Ryoma…Ryoma, it has to be now," she pleaded.

Ryoma faltered, "What? Why?"

"Because…because after tonight, I'll never see you again, you'll be gone you see, and I…I like Ryoma," Sakuno murmured out to him, somehow losing steam as she got through her pleading.

What was she talking about? He wasn't going anywhere, well, not yet anyways…

"I'm not going—" Ryoma began explaining only to be cut off by a deep sigh coming from the bundle of wet woman underneath him.

Wow, she'd completely stopped moving, and her arms were slack around his neck.

"Sakuno?" he questioned only to be answered by another puff of air passing over his face.

Great. She'd passed out. Wasn't that just great! Ryoma moved to push himself off of Sakuno so he could go lay down somewhere else, only to have her arms tighten around him reflexively.

Seriously? He couldn't even move now? He was stuck in bed naked with Sakuno?

Come on!

After several more fruitless attempts, Ryoma gave up on his escape and simply rolled them to their sides and closed his eyes. He wasn't getting away from her without physically harming her. He mentally shook his head. This was so ridiculous. He could already feel the headache coming for him in the morning and he was too tired for this. Besides, they still had their towels on…it would be fine. Or, maybe that was just the beer talking.

Ryuzaki Sakuno woke early the day after her high school graduation from the sensation of something rubbing her stomach. She was lying on her back and something was on top of her making a rubbing sensation on her stomach, what in the world? Her head was pounding and she fought to crack her eyes open to see what was disturbing her sleep only to be met with a fluffy Himalayan cat face.

She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Wasn't that? Ryoma-kun's cat? She slowly blinked, thinking somehow the cat was a figment of her imagination induced by whatever was giving her the headache from hell. Nope, fluffy face was still looking intently down at her and rubbing its paws into her stomach with determination. Why was thinking so difficult? What was Ryoma-kun's cat's name again?

She wet her dry lips with the tip of her tongue, "Ka-Karupin?" she croaked.

A loud moan suddenly filled her ears, and Sakuno was suddenly aware that she was not in bed alone, well, besides the cat.

Oh no. Please no.

The arm she hadn't realized was wrapped around her waist shifted, suddenly making her aware of its presence and wait…was she naked?

She rolled her eyes to the side and got a glimpse of dark greenish black hair.

Oh no. Nonononononononononononono.

She shifted slightly in the direction of her bedmate, causing Karupin to jump off of her. She got a good look at her bedmate's sleeping face and confirmed that yes; she was somehow in a bed with Echizen Ryoma.

She was pretty sure she was naked. She was pretty sure Ryoma-kun was too, given his exposed shoulders. She bit her lip to keep herself from screaming as Ryoma-kun's hazel eyes slowly blinked open.

"Sakuno—" he whispered just as her confused brain finished processing and not being able to take it anymore, Sakuno let out a terrified scream as she pushed Ryoma away from her. She effectively pushed him into the bedroom wall and herself off of the bed. Quickly realizing she'd tumbled off the bed, she looked down at herself and realizing her nakedness she screamed again as she grabbed at the blanket and yanked it off of Ryoma and wrapped it around herself. Looking up, she was met with a rattled, confused and naked Ryoma and screamed yet again.

Not even bothering to cover himself, Ryoma had both hands covering his ears, "Will you stop screaming? My head is pounding!"

Sakuno quieted for a second as Ryoma grabbed at a towel that was on the bed and wrapped it around his hips. Before he could even look back at Sakuno she was already back on the bed with him wrapped up like a mummy in his blanket.

"Ryoma-kun! What-?" Sakuno stopped herself from asking the questions on the tip of her tongue. Why couldn't she remember anything? Why didn't she know why she was here? Why was she naked in Ryoma-kun's bed? Did she really want to know? Weren't the answers obvious?

Rolling up on herself and putting her forehead into the bed, Sakuno moaned, "Oh God, I'm ruined!"

Hearing Sakuno's words, Ryoma's eyes widened in disbelief. She didn't…uh oh. Before he could explain though, Sakuno was in a full swing freak out. She was pounding her fists onto the bed and kicking her feet from her knees. "I'm ruined, I'm ruined, I'm ruined," she was practically chanting it to his mattress.

"What will I do now? Uwahhhhaahahahahahahaha~~" she wailed into the bed.

Not knowing how to calm her down, Ryoma remained still and watched in horror as Sakuno continued her tirade. Ugh, his headache was now in top form and he squeezed his eyes shut tightly trying to figure out how to fix this situation. Wasn't this what he'd fought so hard to avoid last night? He took his left hand and rubbed at his temples for a second trying to gather his still half awake wits about him.

Sakuno had sat bolt upright, flopped back to the floor and was now scrambling through their clothes on the floor, "Dress, dress, where's my dress?" she was saying to herself.

"I hung your dress in my closet," Ryoma informed her without even thinking about it.

Sakuno wobbled to her feet and half way to the closet, she paused, turned and then flopped her blanket-wrapped self in his desk chair. She picked up his cordless phone started furiously punching numbers into the receiver.

Ryoma's eyes widened in fright as he suddenly jumped into action and swiping the phone out of Sakuno's hands quickly hit the end call button.

"What are you doing?" he demanded furiously.

Taken aback by his anger, Sakuno flinched as she reached for the phone in his hand and answered, "I-I'm calling Takashi-kun!"

Kawamura again? What the hell?

"What? Why?" Ryoma asked, his confusion and frustration clearly conveyed in his tone as he pulled the phone further away from Sakuno, effectively keeping it out of her reach, unless she wanted to flash him of course.

"What?" Sakuno asked back, now also confused.

"Why are you calling Kawamura?" he asked.

Sakuno's lower lip suddenly quivered, "Be-because! Uwahahahahahaha~~~ Taka-takashi-kun, he promised me, he promised if something like this ever happened he would take care of me...that he would mar-marry me and everything would be okay."

Furious, Ryoma threw the phone into the wall. It bounced on impact breaking into several smaller pieces. Sakuno cried out in shock.

Kawamura told her _that_? What the hell! Next time he saw that guy he was going to punch his brains out and Sakuno was quitting Kawamura sushi effective immediately. He flexed his hands into fists just thinking about how much he was going to beat the crap out of Kawamura. How dare he?

Sakuno was crying inconsolably into his blanket with her hands covering her face. Her long brunette hair was cascading about her in disheveled waves.

Ryoma groaned from the pain in his head and the silly female distress going on in the room at present. What a mess. He let out a frustrated huff before he stomped over to their discarded clothing from the night before and grabbing his pants off the floor dug through his right pocket and produced the now crumpled up long white envelope he'd been carting around with him the past few days. Smoothing it out he walked back to his desk chair and held the envelope underneath Sakuno's nose, hoping she'd look through her hands and spot it.

Seeing the envelope under her nose, she stopped crying and sniffled a bit as she hesitantly took the envelope from Ryoma's outstretched hand.

"Ryoma-kun? What's this?" she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her she turned it over and began breaking the seal.

Ryoma put a hand over hers; momentarily stopping the action, "Wait. Just…before you open that up, we," Ryoma paused as Sakuno looked up into his eyes and he took a nervous gulp of air. "Last night, we, I mean, nothing," he let out a huff of frustration, "it- I mean, we didn't…you know," he gestured with his hands helplessly unable to put it into words and blushing furiously remembering what they _had_ done.

Sakuno's eyes widened with understanding as she realized what he was trying to say. She started blushing furiously herself, "We…we, didn't?" she asked.

Ryoma shook his head, "We didn't."

Sakuno looked down and then back up at Ryoma, taking a moment to rove her eyes over his barely clothed form, "Are you sure?"

Ryoma averted his eyes for a second. Okay, so the truth was, she'd broken him down and he'd decided he couldn't fight her anymore about it and then she'd passed out, but…well, they hadn't so…he then looked back at her, "I'm sure that I'm sure! I remember everything!"

Sakuno let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding, "O-okay, I believe Ryoma-kun."

Ryoma sighed with obvious relief and then glanced nervously at the envelope in Sakuno's hands. He moved over and leaned his towel-clad figure against his desk, keeping both eyes glued on the envelope.

However, now that the subject was being discussed, Sakuno had questions, "What did happen last night, Ryoma-kun?"

Ryoma swallowed and flushed red yet again. What was he going to tell her? He looked at the envelope again. Everything. He needed to tell her everything.

He yanked the envelope out of Sakuno's fingers. She protested meekly, but he just walked back to his bed. He slowly sat back on it, taking care that he didn't flash anything underneath his towel at Sakuno.

Sakuno rose from the chair at Ryoma's desk and waddled after him with the blanket still tightly wrapped about her figure. She joined him on the bed; somewhere in the back of her mind she wondered why neither of them had bothered to put any real clothes on.

"Do you remember anything from last night?" Ryoma asked once they had both settled side by side with their backs against the wall.

Sakuno paused for a moment and tried to think, she'd just been reacting and jumping to conclusions all morning instead of trying to remember what happened to get her into this situation. Oh. Oh…ohohohohohoh.

"Ryoma-kun you tried to help me because I ate Fuji-kun's sushi, but you gave me this horrible tasting stuff and then I was all fuzzy happy giggles, but I didn't feel good, right? I kind-of remember walking here with you, why didn't you take me home?"

Ryoma gave Sakuno a skeptical look. Did she really not understand?

"I couldn't bring you home drunk like that!"

Sakuno's eyes widened, "I- okay, you're right, it was probably better not to go home drunk. Grandma would have probably killed both of us." She paused and gazed at Ryoma's bare chest for a minute, now that she'd calmed down her fingers were itching to touch him. She pulled her back away from the wall a bit and leaned over him.

"Ne, Ryoma-kun…if nothing happened, how did we end up naked?" she asked quietly. Her traitorous right hand was inching towards his shoulder.

Ryoma gave Sakuno a smirk and taking her approaching right hand into his left, he pulled her hand into contact with his chest as he cupped the side of her face with his right hand and pulled her lips down to meet his.

Sakuno couldn't believe it. Ryoma-kun was kissing her! Losing herself she slumped her blanketed form onto his towel-only clad lap and enjoyed rubbing her hands across his bare chest and back as she kissed him back fervently. After all, she'd probably never see him again after this anyway.

By the time Sakuno was moaning into his ear as he kissed his way down her neck, Ryoma paused and moving his mouth to her ear confessed, "This is what happened last night."

Sakuno nearly lost herself at Ryoma's whispered confession - she was ready to drop the blanket off and swipe at Ryoma's towel. Uwah, last night sounded so hot to her, and she couldn't even remember it. Her first kiss lost to the fuzziness of being drunk, although, this morning's display was more than making up for it by her imaginings.

"Ryoma-kun no etchi," she jokingly scolded him.

Ryoma gave a slight snicker of amusement.

"I still don't know how we got naked," she reminded him.

Ryoma gave a nervous cough, "You…insisted on taking a bath."

Sakuno took a minute to think that through…

. . . .

"Ryoma-kun and I took a bath together?"

Ryoma was unsuccessfully trying to back away from Sakuno's furious expression, though his back was already into the wall. Realizing he was cornered, he closed his eyes for a moment to gather his thoughts and then defended, "Well, I turned the lights off!"

Sakuno was already onto the next point, "So then when were we kissing?"

"Well," gulp, "while we were in the bath—"

"Uwahahahahahaha~~ Ryoma you did ruin me, I'm ruined!" Sakuno interrupted.

Now she drops the –kun? Ryoma noted with irritation.

"Now I'm going to have to marry Takashi-kun!" she continued.

AGAIN? Again she brings up Kawamura! Ryoma banged the side of his fist into the wall behind him before he completely lost his temper. He grabbed for the white envelope once again since it had been discarded next to them on the bed and started opening it up. Forget this, she was being such a silly female right now, he absolutely couldn't take it anymore, and if she brought up Kawamura Takashi one more time as a potential marriage mate he was going to put his clothes on and go burn down the sushi shop.

Unfolding the document that was inside the envelope out, he flipped it over and held the writing up to Sakuno's face between them for a moment to get her attention before lowering it enough that he could watch her eyes scan over it with wonder and confusion.

Her wailing had immediately ceased and now she was moving shaky hands from Ryoma's shoulders to the document's edges to take it from him. She shifted on his lap to get better light and Ryoma watched as she read it over more than one time as if in disbelief.

Finally, she looked up at him with shining tearful eyes.

Ryoma gulped and felt his whole body flush with embarrassment.

She waved the document with one hand between them for a few seconds, "So…Ryoma did this?"

It didn't matter if she was asking if he'd ordered it or filled it out, or done all the research to fill it out, he had done it, all of it. He nodded.

Sakuno put both hands on the edges of the document again and looked at it, blushing. Raising her eyes back at Ryoma she gave him a glowing smile. She was practically sparkling and Ryoma determined this was a good sign.

"I-I don't know what to say!"

"Don't say anything, just sign it and stamp it!"

"But Ryoma! That would mean, I mean…that would, you know? If I did that then we'd, well…that would make us _married_!"

"Yeah, so?"

"So you want to marry me?"

Ryoma was suddenly rather embarrassed. Why couldn't she just sign it and be done with it? Girls! So troublesome!

He frowned at her, "Why else would I have done all the research to fill it all out and made my parents sign it since I'm only 18?"

Sakuno looked at the paper again and confirmed that his parents had given their approval. Since she'd turned 18 and no longer required parental permission for marriage she had almost forgot the law that boys had to have it until they were 20. That must have been really hard on Ryoma since his Dad loved to tease him so much about girls.

She'd been partially melting a bit inside ever since she'd first glanced at the paper, but now…she was finally realizing what it really meant and then, "No! Ryoma, I can't marry you!"

She shoved the paper back at him.

Ryoma didn't understand. She said she liked him! She looked positively gooey with happiness a second ago. "Why not?" he demanded.

"Ryoma is a young famous tennis star, you can't get married."

"WHAT? That's stupid!"

"It's not stupid, you can't have a family and play tennis!"

Ryoma disagreed, obviously, but he'd already anticipated the possibility of this argument, in fact, his usually really stupid father had been the one to point it out to him while he'd signed his parental approval. "Fine! I'll quit tennis! We'll just – run the temple here or something."

Sakuno started crying again, "I can't let you do that!"

Desperate, Ryoma grabbed the sides of her face and forced her to focus her eyes on his before saying lowly, "And I can't not marry you, so what's it going to be Sakuno? Do you not like me?" If she hadn't been all over him last night his heart would have probably been shattered with no hope right now, instead he just wanted to shake some sense into her. Sure, he had a sick feeling in his stomach area, but he paid it no mind, this was the moment. He wiped away the few tears that escaped the sides of her eyes with his thumbs and held his breath waiting for her response.

She kept her eye contact with him, "I- I love Ryoma."

He set his forehead against hers and closed his eyes in relief, "You better love me, you silly girl."

A second later, Sakuno had given him a peck on the lips and was standing at his desk signing the paper she'd grabbed on her way off the bed. She'd left the blanket behind on Ryoma's lap, leaving Ryoma to gape at her as she signed their marriage certificate naked.

Ryoma jumped off the bad and wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing the back of the side of her neck as she finished. There was no need for him to sign it, since he'd signed his side days ago when he'd first received the official document and started filling it out. Seeing her signature he grinned in satisfaction.

"My stamp is at home, so I have to stamp it later," she explained.

He rubbed his hands up and down her bare arms before wrapping his arms around her shoulders and setting his forehead down into her neck, "Thank God."

Sakuno was surprised by his comment, "What do you mean?"

"For a scary moment there, I thought you really wouldn't marry me," he confessed.

Sakuno smirked as she turned around in his arms and he lifted his head back up.

"Ryoma, after all these years, you should know that I could never really say no to you."

He gave her a sideways smirk, "Believe me Echizen Sakuno, after last night, I learned that it definitely goes both ways."

Sakuno giggled at the sound of her new name and somewhere in her mind she desperately hoped that when this headache passed she'd remember everything that Ryoma claimed to remember had happened last night, but in the meantime, she was going to enjoy this moment of her newly wedded bliss. She pressed her body against her husband's and wrapped her arms around his neck, "Take me back to bed Ryoma."

"With pleasure, Sakuno," he said as he lifted her up and deposited her back on his bed, he grabbed the blanket and wrapped them both up in it. "So, any ideas on the honeymoon?"

"Ryoma, I had no idea you even wanted to marry me twenty minutes ago, and I have a hangover, give me a few minutes to catch up with you!" Sakuno scolded him.

"Yes, wife," he said with a grin. He was pretty sure he was going to have fun getting to know Sakuno better now that her shyness had been removed. In the meantime, he was going to make up for last night. He propped himself on his side and leaning over his bride he began sucking on her lower lip as he moved his free arm over the smooth planes of her stomach.

Sakuno let out a wicked laugh, "Ne, Ryoma-kun~~ I think I'm starting to remember!"

Ryoma paused his assault and scoffed at his wife, "Nothing but just Ryoma from now on, and you are forbidden to go work for Kawamura ever again."

"Wait? What?"

* * *

A/N: Well, I hope you all got as many giggles from this story as I did, it was heaps of fun to finally write out this story that's been bouncing around in my head the last 3 years. Please make my day and give me some review love! Muah! xoxo ~Bunny


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